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Great activity blocks that can be stacked, so much to do and learn on them

We got this set of fisher price 3 stacking cubes from a friend second hand. They are 3 plastic cubed blocks, quite chunky but easy to hold still. The blocks are predominantly blue, red and yellow, blue block has A and 1 on it, red has B and 2 and yellow has C and 3. Each block also has a different activity on the front of it for baby to play with, there is a spinning barrel, clicking rotator piece and colourful bead spinner. Each block also has a round pop up head on top of it, when pressed down the activity on the front is activated and spins round. When stacked up if you press the head at the top and the cubes are in line then all of the activities spin round at the same time. Additionally on the back of each block is a slider, flap or twist piece which reveals pictures, the sun and moon, dog and a cat and bee and flower, bird and fish.

These blocks have so much to do on them they are great for baby to explore and learn something new each time they play with them. They are suitable from 6 months at which point my daughter was just picking them up, now at 9 1/2 months she has more control and is enjoying being able to play with the activities herself and manipulate the sliders etc with her fingers to see what's on the blocks.

With there only being 3 blocks it doesn't stack very high but i would say they are more activity blocks rather than a set of stacking toys as these are generally 10 or so blocks high. I would recommend these blocks as there is so much to do on them and when baby is slightly older can use to learn ABC, 123 and colours.

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A great stocking filler!

I bought these for my daughter for Christmas. I got them from Amazon and at the time they cost £9.99.

The blocks come in a box which has holes in the front and back so that you can see what each block does. You get three blocks in a box. The blocks are suitable for 6 months and over.

Each block is a different colour red, blue and yellow. On one side of each block is a letter from A-C and on another side is a number from 1-3. At the top of each block is a button which has a smiley face on it which can be depressed. Each block has a different feature. The red block has a metallic 'spinner' on the front with little coloured beads in it which spins when the smiley face on the top is depressed. The yellow block also has a spinning feature which reminds me of a telephone dial on an old fashioned telephone, this also spins when the smiley face is depressed, the final block is yellow and has a black and white rotating cylinder which contains beads. On the back of each block there is a sliding door feature, which your baby can flip to reveal different pictures, one features day and night and the other two different animals.

At the bottom of each block there is a hole which the smiley face fits into. When the blocks are all stacked together and the top button pushed the blocks all start moving.

My daughter is now 10 months old and she loves playing with toys and will sit for hours with just one toy she is the type of baby who is easily amused. She loves these blocks, she can stack them easily as they are the perfect size for little hands. They also have really bright colours which is appealling to a baby. It doesn't matter which order these blocks are stacked as they will work in whatever order they are placed. I do occassionally help her and count the blocks as we stack them. The blocks are chunky and robust, we have laminate flooring and they have survived several falls from the highchair onto the floor already.

I would give these blocks 5 out of 5, they don't need any batteries and are a really simple fun toy.

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A good learning toy

My son was given these Fisher Price Brilliant Basic Stacking Blocks from a friend whose son had played with and outgrown them. I was very grateful for these firstly as babies can never have enough toys (mummy's can get bored playing with the same ones too!) and secondly as they were in really good condition despite having been played with a lot - a testament to how well made they are. Fisher Price is a brand that I have many baby toys from and have always been really pleased with and these are no exception.

Looking around online, these blocks can be purchased for around £12.99 which is a little expensive for a baby toy that consists of just three blocks but if you have the money to spend, I would say that they are good fun and your baby will probably play with them a fair bit. The blocks are suitable for babies from age 6 months upwards.

The toy is simple and, as I say, just three cube blocks. Each block has a different activity on it's side to encourage baby to explore and improve their manipulation skills. On another side of the block, each has a letter A, B or C. I'm not too sure why this is as it is far too advanced to expect a baby to learn their letters (even an older child would probably learn these from lower case first) and the toy too basic for use when a child is ready to learn their letters. I can only assume that this is for the benefit of the adult when helping the child to stack the blocks to ensure that they are stacked in the correct order but each block also has a number on one side too which would have sufficed for this purpose.

The blocks are brightly coloured - red, yellow and blue and each has a little head popping out of the top in one of these colours too. This is a smiley face and appealing to babies. It can be pressed in like a button and this is what the blocks stack onto. Once stacked in the correct order, the top head can be compressed and some of the activities on the edge of the cubes move e.g. the spinning wheel. As I have mentioned, each block has a different activity to explore. One has a flap that can simply be flipped to reveal different pictures underneath, another has a green plastic 'wheel' integrated that can be rolled and the other has a shiny silver spinning wheel that can be rotated to make the coloured beads within it move around.

My son was intrigued by these blocks from the moment he got them and loves to explore them. He doesn't tend to pick these up as he would his other toys, so I'm not sure the shape is particularly conducive to doing this - there is nothing to grip his hand into and the blocks are pretty large. Instead, he likes to move them about of the floor and poke his fingers around the blocks, particularly at the activities. He especially likes the block with the silver spinning wheel and soon learned how this worked. He will spend a long time spinning this and it holds his attention well. He also enjoys pushing the heads down into the block and this has encouraged him to learn to use his thumb. The blocks are great for developing fine motor skills.

My son is too young to be able to stack these blocks yet but does enjoy to watch whilst you do this for him. I think that, once he old enough to do this for himself, he will gain further enjoyment from them. The toy is well made and has no sharp edges as you may worry about with the cube shape. They seem pretty durable too and have withstood a lot of bashing. The stickers on them have also remained in place without crumpling or peeling off, and the faces on the heads too. These have been played with a fair amount and still look as good as new so they seem to be a pretty good investment!

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Buy if you can but not at full price

I'm always on the lookout for cheap toys for my daughter to play with and I found these in a charity shop so couldn't resist buying them!

The Fisher Price Brilliant Basics Stacking Blocks are a set of 3 brightly coloured blocks which stack together or can be played with separately. Each of the three bloskcs has a letter on one side and a number on the opposite sides. These are ABC and 123 respectively. They are brightly coloured to attract children and are big and easy to read.

On the top of each is a colourful push down button with a smiley face which colntrols one of the other activities on the blocks. The first is a spinner with a black and white design that spins when the button is pressed or can be spun with fingers. It also makes a noise as it is spun. The back of the block has a slider that reveals the sun or the moon as the slider is pushed.

The second block has a blue top which when pressed down spins an orange hexagon which has finger sized holes in it. It can therefore be spun by baby as well as using the button. The back of the block has a flap that can be lifted up or down to reveal either a dog (which is worryingly blue!) or a cat.

The last block is my favourite as it has a yellow push button which spins a circle with 5 coloured balls which spins round. On the back of the block is a slider which either shows a fish and a parrot or a bee and a flower.

My daughter and I both enjoy these blocks. They are bright and colourful which my daughter enjoys and she loves that they can be stacked up. When they are stacked up, you can press the top button to make all the actions happen together. She then enjoys knocking them all down again. I bought these for her when she was about 11 months and she still enjoys playing with them now. The suggested age is from 6 months which seems about right for this toy. They are useful as they are small enough to take out with you and she can play with them at restaurants etc as well.

They cost about £13 which I think is a bit expensive for what they are. I got mine from a charity shop but I have seen them on aution sites for less as well. I would recommend buying them as a useful addition to a toy box but not at the full price.